Our Stubborn Stains

When my son was around three years old he found a red permanent marker. (I can hear the collective air intake of every mother reading this – it is definitely NOT a good thing when a toddler finds a permanent marker.) He decided to color a beautiful picture on a freshly painted wall in our home – on Mother’s Day no less!I tried everything I could think of to get that stain off my wall but no matter how hard I scrubbed it was still there.I finally gave in and painted the wall, only to find that the stain bled through the paint. Who knew a permanent marker could be so permanent!I’m happy to report that after many coats of paint it was finally gone!

Have you noticed we like to call sin anything BUT sin – it’s a bad habit, “just the way I am”, a disease or a mistake? Sin separates us from our Creator.

And we try the only way we know how to clean up our own mess but it never quite works. From the beginning humanity has done this; Adam and Eve tried to cover their sin with fig leaves and we find other ways to try and clean up our our sin.We can take the strongest soap we can find and scrub away . . . but no matter how hard we rub, no matter how strong the soap, we can never removethe stain of our sin. Look at what the prophet Jeremiah says . . .

“No amount of soap or lye can make you clean.I still see the stain of your guilt.I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!”Jeremiah 2:22 (NLT)

Where is the hope?How can we ever be clean?

Titus 3:4-5 (NLT) says, “But – when God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous thing we had done, but because of his mercy.He washed away our sins, giving us a newbirth and new life through the Holy Spirit.”

Only through the cleansing power of Jesus, God’s Son can our stain be removed.There’s nothing we can DO to clean ourselves, it’s all been DONE for us!

When we acknowledge our sin, believe that there is no way for us to make ourselves clean, that it is only through Jesus – we hand the soap and sponge over to Jesus and let Him do His cleansing work in our lives.He does this through the sacrifice He made for us through his shed blood; making us into His brand spankin’ NEW creations, His Masterpiece.

Have you experienced Jesus’ cleansing power in your life?If you haven’t, don’t put it off any longer – today is the day, my friend.

Heavenly Father, I acknowledge that I am a sinner and I cannot save myself.I need You to wash me clean and make me new.Will you come into my life and do your cleansing work. Thank you for saving me. Amen

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I'm an ordinary woman who's in love with an extraordinary God. I'm far from perfect. Make mistakes daily. Know the power of strongholds and have found God's amazing grace covers it all. His grace has overwhelmed my life and I pray it spills out on you. I'm on an incredible journey to share His grace with the world! Won't you join me?

I am a lover of Jesus first, a mom to four grown men and married to my best friend. A writer, speaker and amateur photographer armed with an i-phone, a travel geek, and a confessed tea snob. Crazy about finding kindred spirits in unlikely places and watching God transform a life. On staff with ReachGlobal and traveling the world empowering women with the gospel of Jesus.

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